What’s driving the upcoming record breaking cold snap?? It’s widespread warmth (up-to 30F above normal) and intense blocking in the Arctic/ Greenland/N Canada. That is squeezing out the (tropospheric) Cold Polar Vortex and forcing it south deep into the US. While it may be tempting to blame Global warming-low Arctic sea ice-& Arctic amplification for this, the climate change component is likely enhancing, but is not the primary driver. Teleconnections to various natural oscillations (and the stratosphere) working in tandem are often the culprit in these high latitude blocks. Climate change simply piggy backs and makes the blocking - and amp’d pattern - more extreme. (But it does NOT make the cold air, colder which is a common misconception)